Negele Arsi has had electrical power since the 1950s, as well as
telephone and postal service by 1967.[1]
The town's economic catchment extends beyond the woreda, attracting
peasants from Shashamene woreda who trade cereal
and potatoes for cattle and seeds at the weekly market, which is
held each Monday.[2]

Prince Sahle Selassie was a very
substantial landowner around Negele Arsi. By the early 1970s, half
of Arsi Negele wereda was owned by his descendants. The town was
used as a mobilization point for units of the regular army during
1971, from whence they responded to the disorders that followed
evictions when landowners mechanised farms.[1]

Based on figures from the Central Statistical
Agency in 2005, Negele Arsi has an estimated total population
of 42,054, of whom 21,120 are men and 20,934 are women.[3]
According to the 1994 national census, the town had a population of
23,512, of whom 11,425 were men and 12,058 were women.